Baseball mitt



A. J. TURNER BASEBALL 'M1121' Nov. '24, 192s. 1,562,603

Filed March 25, 1925 liatented Nov. 2d,

UNTE STATE ARCHIBALD J. TURNER, F CHICAGO, LLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO T'OS. E.

OF CHICAGQ, IL INOS, A CQRIORATON OIF MANE.

BASEBALL Application filed March 25, 1925.

[0 all LU/0m t may concern.'

Be it known that I, Anorrinnnn J. Tuu- Nnn, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Baseball Mitts, of which the following .is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to a mitt such as is used in playing baseball, and is particularly concerned with the provision of improved means for adjusting the hand insertion open. ing of such a mitt to suit the preferenc-e or requirements of any individual player.

fl-Ieretofore, adjustment of the hand insertion openings of baseball mitts has been accomplished by cross-lacing or by straps adapted to be secured by buckles, snap fasteners, or the like. These expe-clients for various reasons have not proven entirely satisfactory. They may be supplanted by the improvements of my present invention.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide adjustment means which readily may be manipulated with one hand to etfect the desired adjustment when the mitt is positioned upon the other hand of I0 the player'.

Another object of the invention is to provide adjustment means capable of a much greater number of adjustments than are the prior devices, secured by the conventional buckles or snap fasteners.

Another object of the invention is to provide adjustment means which need comprise no metal parts apt to injure a player or his clothing during playing,as for instance in tagging a base runner.

Another object is to provide adjustment means which comprises no cross-laces, it being found that such laces have a tend ency to become stretched or broken.

.another object of the invention is to provide adjustment means which presents a smooth surface of considerable area to the back of the hand or wrist ot the player,- thereby being conducive to comfort.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the following description progresses.

In this specification and in the appended claims l have used the word mitt as a generic terni covering and including all of; the various gloves or mittens employed in MITT.

Serial No. 18,078.

playing baseball or other games in which a mitt is required.

In. the accompanying drawing illustrating my invention.

Figure l is an elevational View of thc real' of a catchers mitt to which the improvements of the present invention have been applied;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional view which may be regarded as having been taken on the line 2-2 of Figure l; and

Figure 3 is a fragmentary elevational view illustrating how the thongs of the adjustment strap may be tied together.

Similar characters of reference refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The catchers mitt shown in Figure il comprises the usual pad (not shown) which isenclosed in a suitable leather case or covering. This covering comprises a plurality of sheets or pieces of leather', only one of which is shown in the accompanying drawings, namely the rear portion of the cover illustrated at 5. The several elements of the cover may be secured together in any desired manner, as for instance by leather lacing indicated at 6. In this type of glove the inside of the hand of the wearer bears against the outer surface of the cover member 5 when the mitt is in use.

A receptacle for the hand and fingers of the player is provided by a plurality of pieces of leather' indicated at 7 7 which are stitched to the cover member 5, and to each other, to provide pockets for the thumb and lingers and partially to cover the 'back of the hand. i

The. hand insertion opening into the pocket afforded by the several members 7W? is indicated at 8, the material of the mem bers 7--7 constituting the margins of the opening 8 preferably being turned outwardly to a certain extent and being provided with a binding bead of leather which indicated at 9.

As thus far described, the mitt illustrated in the accompanying drawing need not differ essentially from other high grade mitts commonly employed in playing' baseball. l shall now describe those features of improvement with which my invention is particularly concerned.

At l() is illustrated a strap which has one end rigidly stitched, or otherwise suitably secured, to that one of the members 7 which,

CFL.

loo

aifords the receptacles for the thumb and ing- 8, that portion of the strap which lies between the lateral margins of the opening preferably being relatively wide and, if desired, being lined with leather reinforcement indicated at 12, such lining, if employed, preferably being held in position on the strap by suitable stitching as illustrated.

At its free end, i. e., the end which is not stitched or otherwise permanently secured to' the mitt, the strap 10is bifrucated to provide a pairof integral thongs 13-13. These thongs extends through openings iii-11i which are formed in the material constituting the left (Fig. 1) margin of the opening 8. One of the openings 14 is provided for each thong and, if desired, each of the openings 14 may register ,with a similaropening formed in a piece of leather 15 which, it will be noted, is stitched to the outer surface of that one of the' members 7 which affords the pocket forthe little lingery and constitutes the left (Fig. 1) margin of the hand insertion opening. As will presently appear, the piece 15 cooperates with the last mentioned member 7 to afford friction guides for the thongs 13g-13. K

Formed in the member 15 are two pairs of parallel slits .indicated at ltiwli and 17'--17.l Each of the thongs 13 is extended through both of the'slits of onepof thesel pairsl as is clearly illustrated in the drawings, and thus is adapted tofb'e frictionaily but yieldinglyrheld between the member 15 and the one of the members 7 Vto which the said member 15 is attached. Therefore,the member 15 and the one of the members 7 to which it may be attached may be said to cooperate to afford Vfriction guides through which the thongs 13 13 are se'iarately extended. y n

In using the adjustment.means just dcscribed, tlie left hand of the player is insertedthiough the opening 8 and the thongs 'i3-13 are grasped with the right hand and drawn through their friction guides uiitil the desired adjustment of the strap 10 has been secured. The thongs Kare then tied together as is illustrated in Figure If the mitt is one which is being used by several players requiring diifeient adjustments, the sim jle knot such as illustrated in Figure 3 wil'M suffice, as little or no strain is' thrown upon the knot due to the action of the friction guides through which the thongs are extended. If the mitt is one which is always used by the saine player, the thongs may be tied with a double knot, in which case the superfluous material at the free ends of the thongs is preferably cut away.

Having thus illustrated a preferred einbodiment of iuy invention, what I claim is new and desire to secure by Letters Patent in the United States is:

1.v A niitt having a hand insertion opening, a strap secured to one lateral margin of the opening, extending across the opening, and haring its other end bifurcated to provide a pair of thongs, together' with a friction guide member associated with the other lateral margin of said opening aiiording two pairs of slots through which said thongs are separately extended.

2. A mitt comprising a hand insertioi'i opening provided with outwardly turned lateral n'nrgins, a strap having one end sod cured to the outer surface of the material of the niitt which sounds one of said lateral margins, said strap then extending througii a slot in said material and across said opening and haring its free end bifurcated to provide a `air of thongs, slots in the material bounding the other lateral margin of said opening, said thongs passing through said slots, and a friction guide member hctween which and the material at the last mentioned margin of the opening said thongs are passed, said guide member being provided with two pairs of slots through which said thongs are separately extended.

3. fr initt haying a hand insertion opening and an adjustment strap having' rone end secured to one iateral margin of said opening, said adjustment strap extending substantially across the hand inserti'fiu opening and haring its other end l i'l`iucated to provide a paiJ ofthongi, and frictional means associated with the ether lateialv margin of said opening affording guides through which said thongs are separately extended.

/1. A mitt hayii y i hand iuscrtioi'i opening. and adjustment ineens attached to one of the lateral margins of said opening and coniprising a pair of thongs. and frictional guiding means for said thongs associated with the other lateral margin of said oponing', said fi'ittioual.` iiding incans comprising two layers of iiexiblc material between which said thongs are passed, one of said layers being provided with two pairs of slots through which said thongs are scparately extended.

ln witness whereof, I hereunto.subscribe my name this 23rd dai7 of March, 192i,

" Ano-nimm J. Tri-sana.. 

